Texas lawmakers to consider restoring limits on late voter registration changes [View all]

exas Gov. Greg Abbott called on lawmakers Monday to prohibit same-day voter registration, in an apparent attempt to reverse a measure passed earlier this year that relaxed rules for voters who made last-minute updates to their addresses.

Texas does not allow same-day registration for new applicants (23 other states do), but under the legislation passed this year with bipartisan support, Senate Bill 2217, voters could update their addresses and immediately cast a ballot based on their new precinct or district, as long as the move was within the county. That law was scheduled to go into effect Sept. 1.

But shortly after Abbott’s announcement, state Rep. Briscoe Cain, a Republican from East Texas, announced on social media that he had filed a bill that would effectively prevent that measure from going into effect.

Cain’s bill would maintain the status quo, in which voters can update their address at the polls, but have to wait 30 days for that change to take effect. Their ballot would include races tied to their old address, the one on file in the state voter registration system before the update.


https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/25/abbott-texas-same-day-voter-registration-legislature-special-session/